1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nipples for baby bottles. More specifically, the present invention relates to valved nipples for baby bottles.
2. Discussion of Background
The conventional nursing nipple for feeding a baby is designed to allow the extraction of liquid from the bottle as a result of minimal sucking effort. This minimal effort does little to develop the mastication muscles and stimulate mandibular growth. In addition, the large volume of liquid made available to the baby by a conventional nursing nipple may cause the baby to develop "tongue thrust" in the baby's effort to regulate the flow of liquid from the nipple. Other problems that develop in babies and are traceable to conventional nipples are deformation of soft bone tissue, malocclusions, finger sucking, lisping, and the like.
Conventional nipples have little comparison to the human breast which requires the baby to use the natural combination of lips and gums to compress the nipple while the tongue guides and supports the nipple but does not regulate the flow of milk. In contrast, the operation of conventional bottle nipples encourages the baby to suck lightly and control the rate of flow of the liquid with a tongue thrust action.
Another disadvantage of conventional nipples used for bottle feeding of babies is the occurrence of colic caused by air swallowed during the feeding. Also, conventional bottles frequently leak from the nipple if the bottle is inverted.
There is a need for a baby bottle nipple that avoids the problems of conventional bottle nipples and encourages correct functioning of the lips, tongue, gums and facial muscles groups.